


starlight

by Navyrants



Category: Ever After High
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-18
Updated: 2016-10-18
Packaged: 2018-08-23 06:06:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8316667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Navyrants/pseuds/Navyrants
Summary: Briar and Raven have an important talk during the Thronecoming dance. Alternatively titled: Things I’m Still Mad Never Happened In The Show.





	

It’s not really like you to stand outside listening to muffled music while there’s a party going on just beyond the door, but somehow you can’t bring yourself to go back and act normal after such a weighty act. _What have you done, Briar?_ The question haunts you, even if some part of you is screaming _‘the right thing’_ in answer.

You sigh, shake your head, and sit down on the steps. For once, you’re not really in a partying mood, but maybe you can afford that now that you won’t have to sign the Storybook of Legends. The thought is a minimal comfort.

Chin in your hands, you’re so preoccupied with yourself that you almost don’t hear the door opening behind you. You start when someone sits down next to you, touching your arm lightly, but when you turn to look it’s only Raven.

—But then, Raven Queen isn’t _only_ anything. She’s kickstarted a revolution right here in Ever After High, and introduced you to the idea of not following your own destiny, all because she didn’t want to be evil. Your thoughts flash back to getting caught in her story in Heritage Hall, but you quickly push that away at the look of concern on her face.

“Are you okay, Briar?” She tips her head in a way that can only be entirely endearing. “It’s not like you to miss out on a party. Or your friends. Even just for a night.” Well, she’s right about that. With a hundred years of sleep looming over your head (and the knowledge that everyone you love will be dead when you wake), you try to make the best of right now.

“I’m–” You let out another sigh and drop your arms into your lap, leaning forward on your knees. “I’m alright, Raven. Just thinking too much, I guess.” Her shoulder bumps yours in sympathy and you smile at her.

“Boy, do I know how that feels.” A soft silence falls between you for a moment, then: “Do you wanna…talk about it?” She’s peering at you curiously, though with a sheepish edge, like she isn’t sure if you want her to ask.

And really, it’s not like you can tell her you’ve just thrown the Storybook down the Well of Wonder. What would she _say?_ What would everyone else say? How long will it even stay a secret?

“I was thinking about,” You start slowly. “About Heritage Hall. I was in your story.” She turns her face away from you, shoulders tense. You bite your lip. This is probably a bad subject but you _need_ to talk about it. “Raven, it was awful. I had…I had no idea it was like that.” She doesn’t speak for a long time, or even look at you; she just sits there and fidgets.

“Most people don’t…don’t think too hard about what happens to the villain. I guess I can’t blame them, but I don’t think it’s fair.” She laughs softly, but it feels humorless to you. “Believe it or not, I never planned on rebelling like this. It just happened. I was…scared.”

You consider that for a while. _Scared_ is pretty accurate for a lot of people right now, you think. Scared of losing their destiny, or scared of being forced to play it out, or just scared of not knowing.

“I’m scared too,” you admit quietly. You wonder if this counts as taking a side, and if Apple would be mad if she found out. “I’m scared to lose all my friends when my destiny plays out. I’m scared to wake up in a world I won’t even know a hundred years from now.”

“I’m scared of being like my mom.”

You think about Apple. You think about her in Raven’s story, in her death sleep by your–by Raven’s—hands. You think about the guilt and the pressure, and you think about everyone in Ever After who wouldn’t stop until you were apprehended.

You think about Raven. You think about how everything you saw was really all about her, and you think about the pressure she must have felt all her life and the guilt she would feel if she followed her destiny. You think about the way people around you have always looked at her, like a contagion to be avoided at all costs, because she was destined to be evil.

You think about how she is probably the least evil person you have ever met.

But, tongue heavy in your mouth, you can’t manage to voice any of this. Instead, you let your hand cover hers where it rests between you, and sit in comfortable silence watching the stars until students start to trickle out of the party.

You feel _understood_ for the first time in as long as you can remember.


End file.
